' Absolutely pathetic excuses '

' Absolutely Pathetic EXCUSES '


Harris should have changed the team instead of sticking with one that is just not working! Picking the same team and expecting the result to be different



NEIL HARRIS:

'We are too soft. Simple as that' - Raging Neil Harris hits out at Cardiff City's lack of fight as he vows to ring changes in January

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris accused his players of being "too soft" following their defeat by Wycombe Wanderers as he vows to shake things up in the January transfer window.

The Bluebirds on Tuesday night were completely ineffective against a Wanderers side who sit rock-bottom of the Championship table.

Cardiff lost captain Sean Morrison after 20 minutes and his replacement, Filip Benkovic, along with the rest of the Bluebirds defence were far too accommodating.

Ryan Tafazolli beat Benkovic in the air for the first goal, while David Wheeler ghosted in between Benkovic and Curtis Nelson to score the Chairboys' second of the evening.

It means City have now lost four of their last five matches and a disgruntled Harris was brief in his explanation as to why that has been the case.

"We have conceded too many goals, haven't got a clean-sheet mentality," he said. "We are too soft. Simple as that."

Morrison was, of course, a big loss, compounding the absences of Kieffer Moore, Lee Tomlin and Jordi Osei-Tutu, but even so, the players on the pitch did not create enough to feel hard done by after the 2-1 defeat.

Harris has had to chop the squad down over the last year he has been in charge, meaning he has fewer experienced players to call upon when injuries begin to pile up.

And the manager bemoaned his sides lack of desire and leadership as he hinted at what needs addressing as the opening of the transfer window looms.

"You can see that we lack a bit of quality when you take key players out of the group," he added.

"We are a tight group and the January window is upon us and it's important we try and add, if we can, to the group, especially when you look at injuries and how long people are going to be out.

"I don't see us doing the hard yards to stop crosses or putting the head in where it hurts. Is there enough leadership in the group? Enough desire to want to do well?"

"It's not just experienced players who give you leadership. Experienced players give you knowledge and voice, but if you sign the right players they give you leadership.

"It's certainly something we have to look at, because the young players we have got in the group aren't quite ready to step in. They need time to develop.

"If we are going to add to the group then certainly, bringing in players that give us that leadership or athleticism, or a bit of both if possible, will be vital."

But with the dire situation surrounding football's finances at the minute owing to coronavirus, there is likely to be very few big-money transfers in the Championship in January.

Having spoken with owner Vincent Tan every day recently, though, Harris explained that if they are to add to the squad, players will have to leave next month.

“I’ve spoken to Vincent every day for the last week or two weeks, I spoke to Mehmet [Dalman, the chairman] two days ago, and they know my thoughts," Harris said.

“We’re not going to spend money in January – no-one is. No football club is going to be spending money in January because it’s just not possible.

“Not us, but other clubs are struggling to pay wages. There’s loads not been reported about clubs not paying wages in the Championship. Football is struggling.

“Signing lots of players and spending lots of money is not going to be the case. That’s been done in the past and I’ve tried to address that in the time that I’ve been here.

“We’ll try and adjust the group – we’ve seen tonight we need to do that – but to adjust the group, players have to go out. Do clubs want to sign our players? I don’t know – I haven’t had any phone calls yet.

“We’ve got a group of good lads but I need them to step up and be better at times, and focusing on tonight we weren’t good enough in both boxes. We had four clear-cut chances and they’ve had two. They shouldn’t be chances, we shouldn’t be conceding them.”

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The most important part of that whole story is the bit at the end that convenient wasn't highlighted , probably because it shows how well the club is run behind the scenes and it would help praise on the board.

The bit that says we are not struggling to pay wages but multiple other clubs are. Thst is where Vincent Tan excels as our owner .

Harris is probably right for once , I think this will be the quietest window ever. Maybe a few young premier league loans going about but no big deals especially in the championship

The most important part of that whole story is the bit at the end that convenient wasn't highlighted , probably because it shows how well the club is run behind the scenes and it would help praise on the board.

The bit that says we are not struggling to pay wages but multiple other clubs are. Thst is where Vincent Tan excels as our owner .

Harris is probably right for once , I think this will be the quietest window ever. Maybe a few young premier league loans going about but no big deals especially in the championship

Your dead right here.It won't come as easy reading to those with an anti Harris agenda.~His hands are tied as are most championship managers.

What needs to be remembered is if Harris goes the new manager is still going to inherit the same lazy squad.

We don’t have any key players. Simple as. As good as Morrison can be he’s not consistent. Hoilett isn’t consistent. When his flare comes off and he out skills a player it’s incredible, but that rarely happens.
Murphy needs game time.
OJo needs someone to play off.
Wilson needs to be more central and have balls fed through to him.
Bennet can’t pick a pass at the best of times.

A new manager would need to write off this year and build in the summer.

Let’s not be deluded and assume if we do make the playoffs we’ll stand a chance!! So what if we go to the Prem, it’s not like we’ll have a fighting chance. We’re nowhere near as good as Leeds or Villa.

Hoping Wilson moves on, think long term, what new skills is he going to learn from being at Cardiff!? What new skills could he use at the Euros or in the World Cup!? Oh wait, long balls. Great.

We’re shite. Simple as. Build from the back.

Every supporter understands that money is tight this season with pandemic etc
what arris fails to realise is the supporters want him out because he is not upto the job nothing to do with signings we have 3 new signings but his tactics and selection is the problem everybody can see exept himself or his side kick.

“We’ve got a group of good lads but I need them to step up and be better at times, and focusing on tonight we weren’t good enough in both boxes. We had four clear-cut chances and they’ve had two. They shouldn’t be chances, we shouldn’t be conceding them.”

This quote sums up Harris's footballing philosophy: i.e. the game is focussed on the two boxes. But there is a lot wrong with what happens between them, that also needs addressing.

he can 'rage' all he wants , only has the power to change things around only he has the power to pick the team that plays.
As said - Ainsworth got a performance last night out a team at the bottom of the league.
Harris couldnt get a performance (again) last night out of his team.

Whatever the issue at the source of this - the buck stops at the managers office. Unfortunately I dont think it is fixable.

"We’ve got a group of good lads but I need them to step up and be better at times, and focusing on tonight we weren’t good enough in both boxes. We had four clear-cut chances and they’ve had two. They shouldn’t be chances, we shouldn’t be conceding them.”

What he should have said
We’ve got a group of good lads but I need them to step up and be better at ALL times, and focusing on tonight we weren’t good enough in both boxes. We had four clear-cut chances and they’ve had two. They shouldn’t be chances, we WONT be conceding goals like that while I am in charge”

More chance of going down than up. Pathetic once again

Agree with most of the comments in response to the OT. What Harris has said is essentially perfectly fair.
We do not have enough in the squad to challenge for the autos ( and maybe not play offs).
Also Wilson did very poorly with at least 3 chances.
But the main problem last night was lack of sufficient fight and getting stuck in.
We had a better side in terms of quality.
Therefore Last night he must shoulder some of the blame - he needs to make sure they match the opposing teams effort.
Also imho HE SHOULD HAVE MADE CHANGES 1/2 time.(although Vaulks was unlucky to make way as at least he put a shift in).
I agree we need athleticism and therefore why leave Murphy on the bench game after game. Yes he is frustrating but he has the pace to go past people and create. Yet if Murphy had missed the chances Wilson had then he would have been slaughtered on here. Also as a bench replacement Hoillet can be depended on to put in some effort, and still has technique.
I think we would have won last night with Moore upfront, and even without Moore I am not sure Glatzel deserves a starting place. (At least Wilson got into a position to get the chances- Glatzel seldom does).


At present Harris still has my support - as long as he does not now revert to Pack in the middle. That would be the final straw.

Saying we would have won with Moore is optimistic given that Moore has only scored in a handful of games.
Moore would be a decent 10-12 goal a season man up with a potent striker but he is no answer to our decade of terrible strikers.

Agree with most of the comments in response to the OT. What Harris has said is essentially perfectly fair.
We do not have enough in the squad to challenge for the autos ( and maybe not play offs).
Also Wilson did very poorly with at least 3 chances.
But the main problem last night was lack of sufficient fight and getting stuck in.
We had a better side in terms of quality.
Therefore Last night he must shoulder some of the blame - he needs to make sure they match the opposing teams effort.
Also imho HE SHOULD HAVE MADE CHANGES 1/2 time.(although Vaulks was unlucky to make way as at least he put a shift in).
I agree we need athleticism and therefore why leave Murphy on the bench game after game. Yes he is frustrating but he has the pace to go past people and create. Yet if Murphy had missed the chances Wilson had then he would have been slaughtered on here. Also as a bench replacement Hoillet can be depended on to put in some effort, and still has technique.
I think we would have won last night with Moore upfront, and even without Moore I am not sure Glatzel deserves a starting place. (At least Wilson got into a position to get the chances- Glatzel seldom does).


At present Harris still has my support - as long as he does not now revert to Pack in the middle. That would be the final straw.

So by playing Pack is will be the final straw? surely that final straw has already been

Maybe it's time to put a few youngsters in for a few games, just to shake up the experienced players who know their place is secure under Harris, because let's be fair they couldn't do any worse than the team that is playing week after week.

Saying we would have won with Moore is optimistic given that Moore has only scored in a handful of games.
Moore would be a decent 10-12 goal a season man up with a potent striker but he is no answer to our decade of terrible strikers.

his contribution is not just the goals..

Thomas blue as you rightly say tan is running the club properly but his employee Mr Neil Harris isn't doing his Job very well.
Normal scenario in any business you step up or ship out.

Maybe it's time to put a few youngsters in for a few games, just to shake up the experienced players who know their place is secure under Harris, because let's be fair they couldn't do any worse than the team that is playing week after week.

yes..worse players could do worse....

Reading between the lines of he states the players aren’t giving enough, that to me says he’s lost the proverbial dressing room.

Spouting off to the press also screams to me that he’s helpless and cannot motivate this squad of players.

Seems to me he’s getting his excuses in before he gets the bullet.

I knew this would be a treading water season with a bunch of players getting older, staler with no pressure for certain places.

Thomas blue as you rightly say tan is running the club properly but his employee Mr Neil Harris isn't doing his Job very well.
Normal scenario in any business you step up or ship out.

Providing he gets the tools to the job in the first place.

The championship is a very competitive league and results like this do happen and it would be acceptable if it was one off bad performance, but they have been like that for the majority of the season. Harris comes out with the same excuses but does nothing about it. There's no competition for places as he won't drop players, no matter how poorly they have been playing. We all know what the lineup/tactics is going to be before he announces it so opposition know what to expect. He has no plan B if plan A doesnt work. 2-0 down against bottom of the league and he doesn't change anything until the 72nd minute. It wouldn't be so bad if he was learning from his mistakes, but he isn't.

Time for change.